Profiles

Indiana State University’s new financial trading room uses Rise-powered displays to educate and advertise

When Indiana State University received a grant to build a new computer laboratory for its College of Business students, school officials decided early on that it would be a state-of-the-art financial trading room, and that digital signage would be a prominent feature of the facility.

According to Associate Dean Bruce McLaren, the University wanted electronic displays for two equally important reasons: first, to inform and educate its business students, and second, to raise the profile of the Business College on campus. “We wanted tickers and video data wall equipment to display financial information for business students who intend to become financial traders, investment specialists, and financial analysts – information that would allow them to research security pricing trends and develop individual portfolios,” he said. “We also wanted the signs to increase the financial awareness of our students, faculty, and staff. We placed the financial trading room in a high-visibility classroom in our main lobby, near the entrance to the College.”

In the end, the College of Business chose a captivating combination of tickers and LCD displays to adorn its walls – over 50 feet of scrolling ticker signage in all, as well as three large LCD screens, situated both inside the classroom and out in the lobby. The displays feature an ever-changing selection of financial data and programming provided by Rise Display Network, a web-based content management solution from Rise Vision.

The trading room facility was launched in October 2007. Dr. McLaren attributes a significant part of the success of the University’s new computer lab to the digital signage that makes it so noticeable. “An important aspect of this project is the high visibility of financial services education at our institution. The presence of the displays really helps us present our message to students and other stakeholders, and communicates that we are a cutting edge business school.”

The lobby displays in particular are helping to raise the College’s profile. “The visibility of the project in our main lobby has resulted in many positive comments from students, faculty, staff, and visitors to the building,” Dr. McLaren continued. “We are able to use the second ticker in the lobby both for financial information and to welcome visitors to our college.”

The signs are bringing other benefits to the College as well. In Dr. McLaren’s opinion, they are positively affecting school pride, recognition and fundraising. “Clearly there is great pride in having our financial trading room as part of our College of Business, and the Rise–powered displays immediately identify us as a business college. It is a priority stop for admissions tours.

“We have also used this project as the keystone for fundraising among financial specialists, and have received some significant donations that are tied directly to the trading room project. In fact, one donor tied his future gifts to having the trading room up and functioning by a certain date.”

Overall, according to Dr. McLaren, the College is happy to have chosen Rise Vision’s technology for its new trading lab. “We are very pleased with the quality and performance of the system. It has exceeded expectations.”

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